• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.190-198
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• 2021

Objectives: Insufficient evidence exists regarding factors that affect screening adherence among people with a family history of diabetes, who comprise roughly half of all patients with diabetes. Therefore, we aimed to identify the determinants of diabetes screening adherence in adults with a family history of diabetes who had not yet been diagnosed with diabetes. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at selected urban primary healthcare facilities in Tehran, Iran. The study population was clinically non-diabetic adults above 20 years of age with a family history of diabetes in at least 1 first-degree relative. All eligible people identified on randomly-selected days of the month were invited to join the study. Results: Among 408 participants, 128 (31.4%) had received a fasting blood glucose check during the last year. Using binary logistic regression, the independent predictors of screening adherence were knowledge of adverse effects of diabetes such as sexual disorders (odds ratio [OR], 3.05) and renal failure (OR, 2.73), the impact of family members' advice on receiving diabetes screening (OR, 2.03), recommendation from a healthcare provider to have a fasting blood glucose check (OR, 2.61), and intention to have a fasting blood glucose check within the next 6 months (OR, 2.85). Other variables that predicted screening adherence were age (OR, 1.05), job (being a housekeeper; OR, 3.39), and having a college degree (OR, 3.55). Conclusions: Knowledge of the adverse effects of diabetes, physicians' and healthcare providers' advice about the benefits of early disease detection, and family members' advice were independent predictors of screening adherence.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.94-104
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• 2021

Objectives: A number of medical institutions have been conducting fit tests to perform seal checks on masks. This study aimed to compare the differences fit factor before and after domestic N95 mask-wearing training through a fit-test. Methods: A survey of 59 healthcare workers was conducted regarding whether they had undergone a fit test or received training on mask-wearing. Further, the fit of two types of domestic N95 masks was measured before and after the training using a QNFT(Quantitative Fit test). The average fit factors before and after training were compared using a paired t-test. Additionally the differences in the fit test pass rate were analyzed using a McNemar test. Results: A statistically significant difference was seen between the fit factors in the fit tests conducted before and after the training (p=0.0015), as well as in the fit of the two types of masks tested (p<0.01). Thus, an improvement in mask fitting was seen after the training, even with differently fitted masks. Conclusions: Upon using a QNFT, a significant increase in the fit factors for N95 masks was observed after training compared with masks that were fitted as usual. This highlights the importance of training in mask-wearing, with the conclusion that training healthcare providers will improve the fit of masks.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2021

In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to global health systems. The Korea has taken full-fledged actions against this novel infectious disease, swiftly implementing a testing-tracing-treatment strategy. New obligations have therefore been given to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) to devote the utmost effort towards tackling this global health crisis. Thanks to the universal national health insurance and state-of-the-art information communications technology (ICT) of the Korea, HIRA has conducted far-reaching countermeasures to detect and treat cases early, prevent the spread of COVID-19, respond quickly to surging demand for the healthcare services, and translate evidence into policy. Three main factors have enabled HIRA to undertake pandemic control preemptively and systematically: nationwide data aggregated from all healthcare providers and patients, pre-existing ICT network systems, and real-time data exchanges. HIRA has maximized the use of data and pre-existing network systems to conduct rapid and responsive measures in a centralized way, both of which have been the most critical tactics and strategies used by the Korean healthcare system. In the face of new obligations, our promise is to strive for a more responsive and resilient health system during this prolonged crisis.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.298-303
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• 2024

Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate drug prescription indicators in outpatient services provided at Iran Social Security Organization (SSO) healthcare facilities. Methods: Data on all prescribed drugs for outpatient visits from 2017 to 2018 were extracted from the SSO database. The data were categorized into 4 main subgroups: patient characteristics, provider characteristics, service characteristics, and type of healthcare facility. Logistic regression models were used to detect risk factors for inappropriate drug prescriptions. SPSS and IBM Modeler software were utilized for data analysis. Results: In 2017, approximately 150 981 752 drug items were issued to outpatients referred to SSO healthcare facilities in Iran. The average number of drug items per outpatient prescription was estimated at 3.33. The proportion of prescriptions that included an injection was 17.5%, and the rate of prescriptions that included an antibiotic was 37.5%. Factors such as patient sex and age, provider specialty, type of facility, and time of outpatient visit were associated with the risk of inappropriate prescriptions. Conclusions: In this study, all drug prescription criteria exceeded the recommended limits set by the World Health Organization. To improve the current prescription patterns throughout the country, it would be beneficial to provide providers with monthly and annual reports and to consider implementing some prescription policies for physicians.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.603-616
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the subjective opinions of first-generation Korean-Americans about survival. Methods: The Q-methodology which provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item was used. The 34 selected Q-statements from each of 38 subjects were classified into a shape of normal distribution using a 9 point scale. The collected data was analyzed using a QUANL/WIN program. Results: Four types of survival attitudes from 38 first-generation Korean-Americans were identified. Type I was a satisfaction type based on belief, Type II was an effort type based on purpose, Type III was an isolation type based on ethnicity, and Type IV was a compromise type based on adaptation. Results of this study indicate that approaches to a minority's survival strategies need to be differentiated taking this typology and various subject characteristics into account. Conclusion: This information may provide a basic understanding for healthcare providers who work with first-generation Korean-Americans.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.411-427
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• 2010

Data sharing is an essential process for collaborative works particularly in the banking, finance and healthcare industries. These industries require many collaborative works with their internal and external parties such as branches, clients, and service providers. When data are shared among collaborators, security and privacy concerns becoming crucial issues and cannot be avoided. Privacy is an important issue that is frequently discussed during the development of collaborative systems. It is closely related with the security issues because each of them can affect the other. The tradeoff between privacy and security is an interesting topic that we are going to address in this paper. In view of the practical problems in the existing approaches, we propose a collaborative framework which can be used to facilitate concurrent operations, single point failure problem, and overcome constraints for two-party computation. Two secure computation protocols will be discussed to demonstrate our collaborative framework.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.3356-3374
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• 2018

The healthcare and fitness wearable-device market is considered as the driving force of the entire wearable device market. However, there are concerns with respect to information privacy because wearable devices constantly collect sensitive data such as individuals' health information. Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive understanding from the perspective of information privacy concerns and related behavior. This study investigates factors considered in the privacy calculus of wearable fitness devices, and verifies differences obtained by the privacy calculus process according to the frequency of exercise. The results obtained from a survey of 248 undergraduate students in Korea revealed that service providers should consider users' interests and exercise characteristics in order to mitigate their privacy concerns and encourage continuous use of wearable devices. This study provides useful insights pertaining to users of wearable fitness devices, and targets researchers and practitioners.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.1730-1738
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• 2008

Quality of Service (QoS) Guarantees grant ways for service providers to establish service differentiation among subscribers. On the other hand, service subscribers are also assured the level of service they paid for. In addition, the efficient level of service quality can be selected according to the subscribers' needs thus ensuring efficient use of available bandwidth. While network utility optimization techniques assure certain QoS metrics, a number of situations exist where some QoS goals are not met. The optimality of the network parameters is not mandatory to guarantee specified QoS levels. This paper proposes a joint data rate and power control scheme that guarantees service contract QoS level to a subscriber using Goal Programming. In using goal programming, this paper focuses on finding the range of feasible solutions as opposed to solving for the optimal. In addition, in case no feasible solution is found, an acceptable compromised solution is solved.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.240-249
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was to identify the attributes, antecedents, their consequences, and empirical indicators of rehabilitation motivation in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods: Walker and Avant's method was used to analyze the concept. Articles published after 1990 were searched in Medline, CINAHL, NSDL, and RISS databases using "rehabilitation", "motivation" and their combination as keywords. Results: The attributes of rehabilitation motivation are: 1) certitude and trust toward rehabilitation treatment; 2) confidence in the rehabilitation process; 3) efforts and commitments to achieve health goals; 4) psychological needs to act toward health recovery. Its antecedents include: 1) rights of self-determination; 2) goal setting and goal-oriented attitude; 3) personal needs; 4) getting rewards; 5) social and family support; 6) professional behavior of healthcare providers; and 7) least risks or costs for actions taken. Conclusion: The study results could be used as a conceptual framework for developing tools to measure the motivation of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.196-204
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the influence of ego-identity, parenting efficacy, and stress coping style on depression in mothers of toddlers. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. Data were collected from 164 mothers of toddlers, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analysis using SPSS for Windows version 24.0. Results: The factors influencing depression in mothers of toddlers included ego-identity, economic status, and perceived health status. These variables explained 60.0% of depression in mothers of toddlers. Conclusion: Lower ego-identity was associated with more intense depression. Therefore, healthcare providers should develop intervention programs that can improve ego-identity to decrease depression among mothers of toddlers.